By Ricky Hale: They said he won’t make it out the early rounds. That his brittle jaw would crumble, his legs would turn to jelly and that would be that. And yet Amir Khan was magnificent last night. There has been some utter drivel written about Amir Khan (and some of it unfortunately on this very site.) To say you believe Khan may lose, to question about his chin is fair enough. But what has been written about Amir Khan has went way beyond that.

On one side of the Atlantic there persists a juvenile attitude towards another Brit daring to travel across the pond. Another over-rated and over-hyped Brit fighter who will be exposed the next time he faces a big hitter. On the other side of the Atlantic it has stooped a little lower than that. Predominantly white British fans (of which I am one) have turned against Khan in large numbers with an apparent undertone of racism. A section the British public not seeing him as British because he happens to be Muslim. Who were waiting for him to fall at the hands of Breidis Prescott. These people are idiots of course and every true boxing fan, regardless of background can see this.

Khan is a man who has spoken about his pride of being British, who openly condemns Islamic extremism, who has worn the Union Jack on his shorts. A young champion with exceptional potential. A young man who conducts himself well and is a good role model to other young people.

I heard suggestions that he would get into the ring and crumble the moment Maidana throws anything meaningful. And nonsensical talk of the supposed arrogance Khan has displayed in the past. Accusations of him fighting scared, of running in fights. Accusations of being matched against soft opponents. Accusations of him avoiding Maidana… well now he’s beaten him.

Any boxer knows that if you get hit with something hard it hurts. Anybody who understands this fundamental fact would never question the toughness, courageousness or fighting spirit of any boxer. Those who do are not boxing fans. I remember Mike Tyson once saying that he does not believe in the bad chin. If you get hit hard you go down. And believe me all fighters can hit hard. There is no such thing as a feather fist. You get hit in the wrong place and the lights go out. Good balance, footwork, defence and conditioning can help of course. But if you get caught hard on the tip of your chin, your head spins and that’s it. Your brain cannot cope with rotational forces and you suffer a concussion. There is nothing you can put into someone’s heart or chin to change this unfaltering fact. It’s called neuroscience.

Anyone who’s been in the ring knows it is the scariest, loneliest place on Earth. There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. If you run in the boxing ring your opponent will simply walk you down, cut the ring off and take you out. As a tactical approach you may choose to fight on the back foot, to allow your opponent to hold the centre of the ring. This is not running and there is a very simple reason why. Every time your opponent steps forward and attempts to close you down you hit him with something. Khan does not fight scared.

When Khan has been hit hard in a fight he has responded as a fighter should. He’s responded by throwing punches and attempting to fight his way out of trouble. Twice (before the Prescott fight) he was able to fight his way out of trouble and stop his opponent. Please do not question the man’s toughness.

Last night Khan faced the biggest puncher of all in Marcos Maidana and he faced him in his prime. This was a guy who Khan has been ducking they said. A guy who is comparable to King Kong and Godzilla! A guy who’s punching power was so monstrous that Khan could not possibly resist. Those were obviously juvenile observations to say the least. They forgot to mention that Maidana lost to Kotelnik who Khan beat with ease. They failed to notice how badly hurt he was before heroically turning the fight around against Victor Ortiz.

Now I was ridiculed not long ago for writing an article stating that Maidana has no more than a puncher’s chance. And when I stated that the punching power of both fighters was comparable and that I felt Khan’s chin was not an issue I was ridiculed further. I felt the fight would come down to skills and that Khan would outbox Maidana. I had no doubt that Maidana would be tough and courageous and take chances and indeed he did. But I was correct in my assessment that his only hope in the fight was to land that one big shot.

Well guess what, he landed that one big shot… twice. And guess what, Khan’s ‘fragile chin’ took it. Khan was given no credibility for saying he would go into this fight as a puncher. And yet when Maidana landed a vicious shot and stunned Khan early on, he resorted to the same fighting heart he has always displayed. He fought back with blistering speed and accuracy and landed devastating body shots and floored the puncher.

Khan dominated the early rounds although I thought Maidana fought well. And Maidana was excellent in round 10 when he had Khan stunned again. However unlike 27 of Maidana’s opponents Khan was able to cope with the power. And by the final bell there was no debate over which way the fight was going to go. Amir Khan defeated the most dangerous guy in this division.

I would like to credit Maidana who is a fighter that I have the utmost respect for. He was everything they said he was in this fight, it’s just that Khan had that little bit extra. I believe Maidana has a real chance of beating either Bradley or Alexander and deserves a rematch with Kotelnik. We certainly have not seen the last of this guy.

Khan on the other hand should exorcise his demons once and for all by fighting Prescott and then Bradley/ Alexander. And I wonder if all those critics and ‘experts’ that said he would not get past Maidana, let alone Alexander or Bradley are so cock-sure now.

Anybody who has seen Khan’s interview with Victor Ortiz will see he is humble and respectful of his fellow fighters. Anybody who read Khan’s interviews after the Prescott defeat will see a man who was ready to accept his short comings and learn from them. His supposed arrogance stems from the fact that he believed he would win the Maidana fight. Imagine that, a fighter who believes in himself.

Khan had taken on the best of the domestic scene by the age of 22. By the age of 24 he’s faced a World Champion in Kotelnik, a former World Champion in Malignaggi. a mandatory challenger in Salita and a slightly faded legend in Barrera and not lost a single round. This is not being matched soft! And now he’s defeated the biggest puncher in the division. What more could you possibly ask of a 24 year old boxer?

The guy has won an Olympic silver medal at 17, became World Champion at 22 and has a real chance of unifying the titles by the time he is 25 years old.

So he was knocked out once… Pacquaio was knocked out twice!

There has been some utter tripe written about Khan. And I have a question. Now that Khan has beat Maidana will Gilfoid, Lahr, Mackay et al stop spamming this site with their thoughtless, irrelevant nonsense and accept they were wrong? Will the adolescents who bombard carefully thought through articles with barely literate responses learn to think before they write, I fear not.